Television

NDTV challenges I&B Ministry order in Supreme Court

07 Nov, 2016 - 12:18 PM IST | By indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: NDTV has challenged in the Supreme Court the I&B Ministry's order of one-day ban on its Hindi news channel NDTV India. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) had directed NDTV India to go off air for 24 hours from 9 November 2016 00:01 hrs as a penalty for showing strategically-sensitive information while covering the Pathankot military operation in January this year.

In response, the company argued that it was not the only channel that disclosed the information for which it is being penalised. NDTV has petitioned the Supreme Court challenging the order.

In a BSE filing, the news network said that it has filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court, inter-alia, challenging the constitutional validity of the said order, and the provisions of law pursuant to which the said order has purportedly been passed.

The Editors Guild of India, the Broadcast Editors Association (BEA), the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) and several influential personalities such as Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose, Rana Ayyub, Rahul Kanwal, Praveen Swami, and journalists from the channel -- Ravish Kumar, etc have shown solidarity towards the channel and have come up in full support against the government’s order. They have demanded its immediate revocation.

Others such as Zee group chairman Dr Subhash Chandra have said that the government is being soft on NDTV and that the ban should be for a lifetime for daring to carry reports which could harm the country's security. He additionally said on twitter that if the channel dares to go to court to challenge the ban, its appeal will be rejected.

The blackout of NDTV India comes at a crucial time when the news channels, apart from covering the current affairs, will be providing extensive coverage of the US Presidential Elections 2016.